Sat, 24 Mar 2007

"Bramhinism" and research

It is not the prerogative of Indian academia to be
"brahminical". Research is a "brahminical" activity. It is
carried out in an esoteric language. The "priests" select those
can learn it and who can't. We make little or no effort to get
the common people to appreciate what we do. It is enough if we
convince the "kings" to fund us.

We are also information capitalists. We are creating more and
more intellectual riches while doing little to help those for
whom even what we consider "basic" and "elementary" is
unattainable.

Yet, when someone makes an effort to bridge the gap it is
considered an unworthy activity or work of low quality. Look at
any review by mathematicians of the books by Simon Singh for
example. (Which is not to say that I like those books by the
way!)

What percentage of academic publications are written through a
desire to communicate one's ideas to a wider audience? Compare
that with the percentage that are written though the desire to
promote ourselves in some way.

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